How to fill out W-9 on living trust when bank requires it

[Zigner]

my credit union contacted the irs, found out what needed to be done. and it was the simplest thing ever, to do. there is absolutely no need to require someone to create a brand new ein. there may be 2 ways to get a job done. in this case, one was the correct way of doing it. you can attach any other word to the other way.

There is often more than one way to "correctly" do something. When I drive to work, I can get on the northbound highway at exit A or exit B. Both are approximately (within a minute and 1/2 mile) the same distance and time for my drive. Which one is "correct"? (It's rhetorical).

In the situation in this thread, "correct" is not a binary proposition. Trying to assert otherwise is just silly.

 

[Taxing Matters]

my credit union contacted the irs, found out what needed to be done. and it was the simplest thing ever, to do. there is absolutely no need to require someone to create a brand new ein. there may be 2 ways to get a job done. in this case, one was the correct way of doing it. you can attach any other word to the other way.

There are many things in life that can be done correctly more than one way. This is one of them. The IRS accepts getting and using an EIN for a revocable living trust as a valid way to do it. So using that method is not incorrect, i.e. wrong. For many people it may not be the best way to do it as it requires an extra step — getting the EIN — that they otherwise would not need to do, Although that step only costs a few minutes of time so really shouldn't be a big deal. And there are circumstances in which it would indeed be required or at least advantageous for the trust to have an EIN. You may not like the idea of getting an EIN for your trust, and that's fine. But while that may not appeal to you, it is not an incorrect way to go about it.

 

[TrustUser]

i certainly dont want to be required to get one, for a bank account. but i am glad to know that i could get one, IF I CHOOSE TO HAVE ONE.

it isnt the few minutes i am complaining about. it is that i have a tin attached to me that i dont really want. and it possibly has circumstances attached to it that i may not realize, until it is too late !!

it may not be a bad idea for a rental property, especially a commercial one, in which 1099s need to be sent

although this is the last commercial property i will ever own !!

i have a tin for that general purpose. i dont want to give out my social to any property manager

 

[TrustUser]

There is often more than one way to "correctly" do something. When I drive to work, I can get on the northbound highway at exit A or exit B. Both are approximately (within a minute and 1/2 mile) the same distance and time for my drive. Which one is "correct"? (It's rhetorical).

In the situation in this thread, "correct" is not a binary proposition. Trying to assert otherwise is just silly.

it is also silly to post such nonsense. in your case, there is no difference in what you do. in this case, there most certainly is. someone is being required to have ownership of an ein, for absolutely no reason. so next time, instead of injecting nonsense into a discussion, think twice before speaking.

 

[Zigner]

it is also silly to post such nonsense. in your case, there is no difference in what you do. in this case, there most certainly is. someone is being required to have ownership of an ein, for absolutely no reason. so next time, instead of injecting nonsense into a discussion, think twice before speaking.

Really? I equate the extra minute or two and the extra half-mile of driving to obtaining the EIN. It's NOT a big deal.

 

[TrustUser]

as i already stated, i wasnt complaining about 3 minutes of time. i was complaining about being forced to have an ein number, which also requires one to disclose his social.

 

[Zigner]

as i already stated, i wasnt complaining about 3 minutes of time. i was complaining about being forced to have an ein number, which also requires one to disclose his social.

You have to disclose it either way, so your complaint is moot.

 

[Taxing Matters]

i was complaining about being forced to have an ein number, which also requires one to disclose his social.

I'm baffled as to why that is an issue. The application for the EIN for a trust certainly does require that you disclose your SSN, but that disclosure is to the IRS which already has your SSN. So this isn't a privacy issue. The IRS already has your SSN. I can appreciate that it may be a bit more inconvenient to have another number to have to remember, but on the flip side of it using the EIN can help you in some circumstances in avoiding having to disclose your SSN to people you don't know well and who don't already have your SSN, which is where I would see the real privacy concern to be.

 

[TrustUser]

yes, like i told you - i already have a tin to use for my commercial property, cuz i wasnt gonna give him my social.

any time you put your social down, there is a chance of it going where you dont want it to go.

it may only take 3 minutes, if i apply for it online - but then it goes thru the internet

it is more inconvenient if i have to deal with sending it snail mail, but the letter can still get lost

i know that i would not use that financial institution for this type of account, as i have a million other choices

if i did not have a choice, then i guess i would

this is why it is important to have competition

 

[TrustUser]

is my trust illegal if i dont sign my name, print my name, sign the date, and print the page number on every single page of my trust ?

no, but i do it anyway - i like to minimize my chances of problems, when it is an easy thing to do !!!

some things clog up your garbage disposal more than other things

but there is one way not to clog it up - dont throw anything down there

then you dont have to worry about it !!

like even though the irs computer can look up my social when it checks my tax return, that doesnt mean the individual that is accepting this application for an ein would otherwise have access to it.

the bottom line for me is that i do not want to have my social in play any more than IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

 

[LdiJ]

is my trust illegal if i dont sign my name, print my name, sign the date, and print the page number on every single page of my trust ?

no, but i do it anyway - i like to minimize my chances of problems, when it is an easy thing to do !!!

some things clog up your garbage disposal more than other things

but there is one way not to clog it up - dont throw anything down there

then you dont have to worry about it !!

like even though the irs computer can look up my social when it checks my tax return, that doesnt mean the individual that is accepting this application for an ein would otherwise have access to it.

the bottom line for me is that i do not want to have my social in play any more than IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

There are no "individuals" accepting online EIN applications. They are computer accepted and the EIN computer generated.

 

[Taxing Matters]

it may only take 3 minutes, if i apply for it online - but then it goes thru the internet

Yes, it goes through the internet. But if you are using a modern browser then the information is encrypted such that if anyone happened to intercept that one transmission out of the many billions shooting across the web they still couldn't read the contents.

like even though the irs computer can look up my social when it checks my tax return, that doesnt mean the individual that is accepting this application for an ein would otherwise have access to it.

If you do it online then no individual IRS employee handles it. It goes straight to the IRS computer. An IRS employee only sees it if there is a problem. And given that the IRS logs all the computer access that its employees do on its computers, should an employee abuse a taxpayers identity it would not be hard to track that down and prosecute that person. That's one reason why it's extremely rare that such abuse occurs.

some things clog up your garbage disposal more than other things

but there is one way not to clog it up - dont throw anything down there

then you dont have to worry about it !!

Then that makes having the garbage disposal completely worthless. But if you find the benefits of the disposal worthwhile it can be worth having one despite the occasional maintenance issues. Few things in life are totally without risk. You evidently have a very low risk tolerance, which is fine. If having to get an EIN for a trust bothers you that much then of course you're free to look for another bank where you won't need to get one. But IMO it's not something I'd worry much over; the risk of privacy problems in applying for an EIN are very, very low. I do it for clients all the time and have never ever had that kind of problem.

 

[TrustUser]

hi tm, thanks for the comment. on some things, my risk tolerance is low. on others, not so low. but as a general rule, i am a cautious person. but you are correct that my risk tolerance regarding my social is extremely low. however, as you know, i do invest in real estate, etc. so i do try to look at a risk/reward principle in life. but even with my investments, i went slowly, until i had a good idea of what i was doing.

and i do have a tin. i dont recall exactly how i got it. but i think i called the irs. i dont recall filling out any form over the internet. and i would have been extremely hesitant to give an irs employee my social over the phone. they may have sent me a form that i filled out and snail mailed back ?

is it at all possible that i got a tin without giving anyone my social ? this was probably 10 years ago, or more.

 

[LdiJ]

hi tm, thanks for the comment. on some things, my risk tolerance is low. on others, not so low. but as a general rule, i am a cautious person. but you are correct that my risk tolerance regarding my social is extremely low. however, as you know, i do invest in real estate, etc. so i do try to look at a risk/reward principle in life. but even with my investments, i went slowly, until i had a good idea of what i was doing.

and i do have a tin. i dont recall exactly how i got it. but i think i called the irs. i dont recall filling out any form over the internet. and i would have been extremely hesitant to give an irs employee my social over the phone. they may have sent me a form that i filled out and snail mailed back ?

is it at all possible that i got a tin without giving anyone my social ? this was probably 10 years ago, or more.

No, it's not possible that you got an EIN without giving anyone your SSN. In the last ten years if you wanted an EIN you could have easily gone online and gotten one within 5 or less minutes. It's also possible that you mailed in a form to get one but you still would have needed to provide your SSN.